​An Air of Caution, But With Good Reason? - The Government’s Spring Statement, March 2019

26-Mar-2019

In his second Spring Statement, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, recently announced the Government’s plans for a series of discussions and meetings that
might affect the charity sector.

As with last year’s statement, the Chancellor
had put making any major tax and spending decisions on hold. This came as a frustration to some charities as they had wanted a boost in funding; but
in the statement the Chancellor showed caution, as this Spring Statement came at time when a series of difficult parliamentary votes - based around
the UK’s withdrawal from the EU - were still taking place.

Meanwhile, the Office for Budget Responsibility, who provides independent economic forecasts and studies of the public finances, had lowered its outlook for growth in 2019 to 1.2 per cent from its previous report of 1.3 per cent in the 2018 autumn budget.

The reaction from Social Enterprise UK suggested that the statement was a lost opportunity to address the UK’s economic direction; and unless there was a redesign in business to focus on long-term investment and public good, there would not be the economic and social turnaround that is greatly needed.

For this season, although there were no specific announcements directly related to charities, there were a number of noteworthy announcements in the Chancellor’s Written Ministerial Statement that accompanied the speech.